Tom Tallitsch - Gratitude

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 62:05
Size: 145,1 MB
Art: Front

(5:59)  1. Terrain
(5:16)  2. Kindred Spirit
(5:36)  3. Gold Dust Women
(5:00)  4. Refuge
(4:42)  5. Northeast
(7:30)  6. Alternate Side
(4:47)  7. Because
(6:00)  8. Rust Belt
(4:38)  9. Gratitude
(6:26) 10. Oblivion
(6:06) 11. Thank You

Saxophonist Tom Tallitsch shares his feelings with an abiding sense of " Gratitude" on his fourth release for Posi-Tone. Joining Tallitsch on the date is the wonderfully solid rhythm section of pianist Jon Davis, bassist Peter Brendler, and drummer Rudy Royston. Special guest and fellow label mate Brian Charette drops in to add some additional organ flavor to two tracks.  Gratitude features an exciting program of original compositions, along with Tom's new arrangements of a few classics, and the whole session swings quickly into action and shines with bright moments. As both a saxophonist and a band leader, Tallitsch has clearly shifted his musical vibrations onto another level and this set of stunning performances should encourage jazz enthusiasts to Tallitsch's musical message of "Gratitude" with amazement and delight. ~ Editorial Reviews https://www.amazon.com/Gratitude-Tom-Tallitsch/dp/B01BX7UU1W

Personnel:  Tom Tallitsch - tenor sax;  Jon Davis - piano;  Peter Brendler -bass;  Rudy Royston - drums;  Brian Charette - organ on 3 & 11

Gratitude

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Tom Tallitsch - Ride

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:41
Size: 136,1 MB
Art: Front

(4:58)  1. Ride
(3:19)  2. Life On Mars
(3:57)  3. Rubbernecker
(4:35)  4. Rain
(5:33)  5. The Giving Tree
(3:45)  6. Ten Years Gone
(6:16)  7. El Luchador
(7:19)  8. The Myth
(6:08)  9. Knuckle Dragger
(5:35) 10. The Path
(6:09) 11. Turtle

Tenor saxophonist Tom Tallitsch has been on a roll lately. He’s been writing some of the most memorable tunes in jazz over the last couple of years. His latest album, Ride, is streaming at Spotify; tomorrow night, Feb 20 he’s at the Garage (99 7th Ave. South, 1 to Christopher St/Sheridan Square). for happy hour starting at 6 PM, leading a quartet with Jordan Piper on piano, Ariel De La Portilla on bass and Paul Wells on drums. Then next month, on March 27 at 8 PM Tallitsch leads a monstrously good sextet including Mike DiRubbo, David Gibson, Brian Charette, Peter Brendler and Mark Ferber at Victor Baker Guitars, 38-01 23rd Ave, Astoria (N/Q to Ditmars) for a live youtube broadcast. The band on the album is just as good. Art Hirahara is one of the most instantly recognizable pianists in jazz right now, drawing on styles as diverse as the neoromantics, Asian folk and funk. Bassist Peter Brendler continues to build a resume of some of the best recording dates and groups in New York in recent years. Trombonist Michael Dease is another in-demand guy, with nuance to match raw power; drummer Rudy Royston has finally been getting long-deserved critical props, and pushes this date along with characteristic wit and thrill-ride intensity. The album’s title track kicks it off, a brisk, edgy Frank Foster-esque shuffle with some tumbling around from the rhythm section, an expansively uneasy Tallitsch solo echoed by Hirahara followed by a machinegunning Royston Rumble. Rubbernecker, a caffeinated highway theme with subtle tempo shifts, moves up to a spiral staircase sprint from Hirahara. Rain, a plaintive pastoral jazz waltz, is anchored by Hirahara’s sober gospel chords and Royston’s stern cymbals. The Giving Tree, another brisk shuffle, works a vampy, nebulously funk-influenced tune a lot of 70s and 80s fusion bands were shooting for something like this but couldn’t stay within themselves enough to pull it off. The Myth, a rippling, lickety-split piano-fueled shuffle, is sort of a more uneasy, modal take on a similar theme. El Luchador, a wry, tongue-in-cheek Mexican cha-cha, gets some surprisingly pensive rapidfiring sax that Dease follows with a hair-trigger response once he’s finally given the chance.  Dease fuels the droll Knuckle Dragger with an infusion of wide-eyed cat-ate-the-canary blues. The somewhat ironically titled The Path is the album’s most challenging, labyrinthine track, but Royston keeps it on the rails. The album winds up with Turtle and its kinetically romping mashup of latin-inflected drive and moody modalities. There are also two stunningly successful rock instrumentals here. The band does Life On Mars as straight-up, no-BS art-rock anthem Tallitsch’s wistful timbre nails the bittersweetness of the Bowie original. Led Zep’s Ten Years Gone rises with majestic twin horn harmonies from Tallitsch and Dease while the rhythm is totally straight-up, it’s closer to jazz than the Bowie cover. https://newyorkmusicdaily.wordpress.com/tag/tom-tallitsch-ride/

Personnel:  Tom Tallitsch - tenor sax;  Michael Dease - trombone;  Art Hirahara - piano;  Peter Brendler - bass;  Rudy Royston - drums

Ride

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Peter Brendler - Outside The Line

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2014
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:53
Size: 151,1 MB
Art: Front

(3:52)  1. Freeway
(4:12)  2. Blackout Reunion
(3:16)  3. Pharmacology
(5:51)  4. Lawn Darts
(4:40)  5. Walk On The Wild Side
(5:15)  6. Blanket Statement
(7:09)  7. Una Muy Bonita
(3:36)  8. Openhanded
(8:53)  9. Drop The Mittens
(6:17) 10. Indelible Mark
(6:51) 11. The Darkness
(5:55) 12. The Golden Ring

Thirteen years after graduating from Berklee and over a decade into his career as a professional bassist, Peter Brendler has taken the plunge and released his first album as leader, Outside The Line. Look before you leap, as they say. Wise advice, if the quality of this debut is anything to go by. Brendler has already shown himself to be a bassist with a wide stylistic and dynamic range powerful and hard-driving on Jon Irabagon's wild and wacky Foxy (Hot Cup Records, 2010), in company with veteran drummer Barry Altschul; gentle and mellow alongside guitarist John Abercrombie on The Angle Below (Steeplechase Records, 2013). His playing on Outside The Line provides further evidence for his adaptability. His sound is characteristically bouncy and fat, but capable of subtle changes, twists and turns drummer Vinnie Sperrazza's lighter touch contrasts well with Brendler's tone. Three disparate cover versions adorn Outside The Line. The band kicks things off with a punchy take on Chet Baker's "Freeway," Peter Evans' muted trumpet flying over Brendler and Sperrazza's driving rhythm. Ornette Coleman's "Una Muy Bonita" is altogether gentler than the composer's version from Change Of The Century (Atlantic, 1959) thanks especially to Rich Perry's tenor sax. Perry starts out by sharing bass duties with Brendler on Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side," helping out with Herbie Flowers' iconic lines while Evans takes on the melody, then takes off with a solo of his own. Sperrazza shares credit with Brendler for building the song's laid-back groove.

Brendler's own compositions cover stylistic ground from bebop to free jazz to pre-bop romance. "The Golden Ring" shares something of the rhythmic slinkiness of "Walk On The Wild Side"; "Blanket Statement" mixes Coleman-ish sections with hints of Latin grooves; "Openhanded" moves more completely into free territory. "Drop The Mittens" mixes things up a rock-solid rhythm underpins Evans and Perry's extended solos, Brendler's own fluid solo stands alone. "The Darkness" could have come straight from a '40s crime caper soundtrack bass, drums, tenor and trumpet all hinting at the heist or the hit to come. "Blackout Reunion" also harks back to the '40s, a soundtrack to a film noir affair but before things get too down, "Pharmacology" kicks in and feet are a-tappin.' Exactly what line Brendler and his chums are outside isn't totally clear. A quote from legendary American Football coach Bill Parcells adorns the album sleeve about men with odd-shaped balls and may suggest a sporting metaphor, who knows. What's clear is that Outside The Line confirms Brendler's reputation as a commanding bassist. It also establishes his credentials as a band leader hopefully this is a quartet with staying power and as a composer with a sense of stylistic adventure and an ear for a decent tune. The world really can't get enough of those. ~ Bruce Lindsay https://www.allaboutjazz.com/outside-the-line-peter-brendler-posi-tone-records-review-by-bruce-lindsay.php
 

Personnel: Peter Brendler: double bass; Peter Evans: trumpet, piccolo trumpet; Rich Perry: tenor saxophone; Vinnie Sperrazza: drums.

Outside The Line

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Peter Brendler & John Abercrombie - The Angle Below

Styles: Guitar Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:28
Size: 138,8 MB
Art: Front

(5:31)  1. Downhill Runner
(6:28)  2. Half Dozen of the Other
(6:36)  3. Nick of Time
(8:07)  4. Valdoviño
(7:04)  5. Jazz Folk
(7:45)  6. Misdirection
(2:20)  7. Rockaway
(5:17)  8. Six of One
(4:40)  9. Sweet 16
(6:35) 10. Goodbye

Peter Brendler and guitarist John Abercrombie have developed their playing partnership over a number of years, but The Angle Below is their first duo recording. Brendler "the guy on the bass" as he's described in Neil Tesser's sleeve notes is the nominal leader but he refers to the album as a collaboration. He's not wrong. He may be the driving force behind the project, the man who sorted out the studio, booked the dates, contacted the press and made the coffees, but as soon as the bass and guitar open "Downhill Runner" it's clear that this is a joint venture a very successful joint venture. Abercrombie has a long and distinguished discography, with over 50 albums as leader. Brendler, the younger man by about four decades, doesn't quite match that number, but his reputation is building. Brendler takes the lion's share of composer credits six, to Abercrombie's three, plus a cover of Gordon Jenkins' "Goodbye." There's a gentle, almost genteel, quality to the tunes with Brendler's earthy, full, bass tone contrasting well with Abercrombie's bright, metallic electric guitar. In 2010 Brendler joined drummer Barry Altschul on Jon Irabagon's Foxy (Hot Cup Records), a full-on, fiery, high-energy slab of jazz that took few, if any, prisoners. It also demonstrated Brendler's power and strength as a player. The Angle Below requires a different set of skills from the bassist a subtler, more nuanced approach to the instrument. He shows himself to be eminently accomplished at this his composition for solo bass, "Rockaway," is calm and meditative. 

One of the most impressive features of The Angle Below is the way in which the interplay between Brendler and Abercrombie develops within each tune. There are unison passages but for the most part the two musicians work as a lead and rhythm duo. While that might suggest a traditional partnership with the guitar taking on the melody and the bass establishing a rhythmic foundation this collaboration finds both men moving between the two. Abercrombie's "Jazz Folk" is an especially fine example of this interplay, but it's a common motif across the album. The switches between roles are achieved so smoothly that it takes a few seconds to realize that they've happened, a testament to the relationship that the players have on this beautifully-recorded and rewarding album. ~ Bruce Lindsay https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-angle-below-peter-brendler-steeplechase-records-review-by-bruce-lindsay.php

Personnel: Peter Brendler: bass; John Abercrombie: guitar.

The Angle Below

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